Article: This Is What Matt Boldy Taking 'The Leap' Looks Like

[Tony Abbott]

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[Imyourhuckleberry]

Quote

This time, Kaprizov has so much room that a blindfolded Ryan Reaves could've scored. 

I appreciate the colorful language, but for the sake of posterity, I felt like I needed to say that this is so not true. I've seen Ryan Reaves with 3x that amount of open net, with a far easier angle, and still miss the net.😉

[Pewterschmidt]

Johansson bumped to second line:  

fuck you Hynzy.  Seriously bothered by this. 
only silver lining is rinse-sanko now stands a chance to record a shot on net w/o Foligno on the line.  NoJo becomes a poor man’s slap nutz

Edited October 13 by Pewterschmidt

[AKwildkraken]

"That midseason slump started reversing just before the 4 Nations Faceoff break, when Boldy had a three-point game that carried over into a strong showing for Team USA."

I've eluded to this before and it was mentioned in the article by Tony, but I think it's important to ask, "What happened at the 4 Nations tournament?"  

It's my belief that Boldy gained confidence in realizing his game translates with the best in the world caliber players.  Also, I think he learned what it takes to be an elite player by the atmosphere of being with other elite players.  I know he gets that with Kaprizov, but when you are surrounded by a whole locker room of guys that are that level, I believe something rubbed off on him.  Maybe just the fact that now he knows he belongs in that tier of players.  

I hope he continues to play with new level of dominance going forward.

Edited October 13 by AKwildkraken

[MNCountryLife]

Nojo went back to his skating drills after his one nice game.   How is he not reprimanded when he does this.  Is Hynes blind?  You can't let a veteran play like that and call yourself a good coach.  Ugh..

 

[MNCountryLife]

Is it just me, or is Bogo slow on his skates.  Mids isn't real fast either.  The two paired together doesn't work.  It appears the neither is fast enough to recover from anything.  Jiricek was a better pairing with Bogo.  I bet he would pair better with Mids as well.  Those guys each appear to need a faster pair next to them.

Faber wanted to activiate too much.  He wasn't taking care of his positioning and got burned around the outside a few times.  He needs to clean that up... which I do have faith that he will.  

Buium was one of the rare guys on the team that I thought played better in the 2nd game.  The kid has skill.

[MNCountryLife]

I see Yurov is listed as the 4th line center for tonight.  Good luck to him.  I have high hopes.  I am hoping he adds a bit of discipline to that 4th line.

[mnfaninnc]

This should be the breakout year for Boldy. I think the key will be for him to have that confidence throughout the whole season, not just in spurts. And, if Kaprizov can remain healthy and next to him, I think that will happen. 

The same thing goes for Rossi too. He needs to remain confident. If he can do that, I expect another points jump for him. 

Also, my other hope is that Heinzy can find 4 lines that have chemistry and can perform better than the individual pieces. If he can find that, who cares what number they're listed under, the next thing is to give the lines minutes when they're going. If the rookies are on line 4 but are buzzing that night, play them like a 2nd line.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

2 hours ago, MNCountryLife said:

I see Yurov is listed as the 4th line center for tonight.  Good luck to him.  I have high hopes.  I am hoping he adds a bit of discipline to that 4th line.

A bit surprised they are sitting Haight. Perhaps he got banged up a little last game?

I'm happy to see they are getting Yurov in the lineup, I just thought it might be at the expense of someone other than Haight.

Hopefully the Wild will have/create more puck luck against the Kings than they had in their last game.

[MNCountryLife]

30 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

I just thought it might be at the expense of someone other than Haight.

Who were you thinking?

[NoJoSux]

54 minutes ago, MNCountryLife said:

Who were you thinking?

NoJo. Always NoJo. Between NoJo and a squirrel who has been run over on Como Ave, I'll take the gimp-rodent. 

[Imyourhuckleberry]

Just now, NoJoSux said:

56 minutes ago, MNCountryLife said:

Who were you thinking?

NoJo. Always NoJo. Between NoJo and a squirrel who has been run over on Como Ave, I'll take the gimp-rodent. 

Given the prior usage and comments, I would have anticipated Ohgren sitting while Yurov gets a turn, but I certainly wouldn't be opposed to sitting Johansson.

I fully believe that Yurov would play better across from Tarasenko than Johansson, but I guess we'll see how that combination does against the Kings.

I do like the 3rd line the Wild are supposedly using tonight. Hartman centering Trenin and Foligno is solidly built. They might not generate tons of offense, but I don't think the opposition will either.

[Pewterschmidt]

11 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

across from Tarasenko than Johansson, but I guess we'll see how that combination does against the Kings.

Prediction: NoJo gets an assist that gets rinse-sanko his first goal.  
 

why?  So that keeps him in the top 6 so he can continue drive everyone nuts.  Because that’s who he is

Edited October 13 by Pewterschmidt

[Imyourhuckleberry]

6 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

Prediction: NoJo gets an assist that gets rinse-sanko his first goal.  

Always possible. Usually it's a 2nd assist on a drop pass to someone who makes a great play to get a scorer the puck. His ability to skate the puck into the zone is not in question. What he does with it after crossing the blue line often is. Every time it isn't a nearly instant turnover, I'm pleasantly surprised.

[Citizen Strife]

If Ohgren or Yurov were good enough to be in the Top 6, they would be there by now.  Or at least shown something offensively that would be worth it to pursue. Buium isn't having any trouble tilting the ice despite his own issues.

Yurov and Ohgren have to find out something that makes them unique.  That or Guerin will try to trade for someone who will 

[Will D. Ness]

15 minutes ago, Citizen Strife said:

If Ohgren or Yurov were good enough to be in the Top 6, they would be there by now.  Or at least shown something offensively that would be worth it to pursue. Buium isn't having any trouble tilting the ice despite his own issues.

Yurov and Ohgren have to find out something that makes them unique.  That or Guerin will try to trade for someone who will 

It's hard to argue that any dude doesn't deserve to be in the top 6 when you have a coach that plays Nojo there for years.

[Citizen Strife]

Excuse me for trusting a guy who can get a point every other game over two people basically hand picked by the team to grab the spot (to the point Hynes and Guerin both said as much) and they didn't do anything either.  Maybe they find it together on their own line instead.

For all we know, the issue could be Tarasenko.  If the lines continue struggling, he'll be the common factor.  Hynes is gonna try everything before admitting that's the reason.

I'm not saying Ohgren or Yurov can't be that guy.  But waiting and hoping in the league is tantamount to admitting failure.  Rossi took a whole heap of shit til he figured it out.  Maybe they both figure it out.  Until that point, watching an inept 2nd line get lapped by the first line blowing everyone away is kinda sad. Even Hartman's line has a pulse.

Edited October 13 by Citizen Strife

[1Brotherbill]

So far the team has looked good.  

Well the top line has looked good.  I mean the power play has looked good.  8 Power Play goals out of 12.  Not sure if that is a good thing or not. 

Buium is producing at a point per game pace.  I'm totally fine with any defensive laps if he produces 82 points as a rookie.  

Don't care what people say Foglino, Hartman and Trenin on a line is a fantastic combination.  Just go out there and work it boys.  

I would take Hinostroza off of line four and put Haight on that line and just let them play and figure it out.  But I'm not the coach and I'm not coaching for my job.  I'm more of a build for the future guy.  

One game and Wallstedt looks like we had a good backup.  

Defense still needs to figure out the best lineups.  Also, Jiricek needs to play over Bogo, like Buium if Jiricek can score 45 points and sometimes make a defensive laps like Bogo does I'm fine with that because Bogo isn't going to sniff 45 points. 

[Pewterschmidt]

5 hours ago, 1Brotherbill said:

Foglino, Hartman and Trenin on a line is a fantastic combination.

Tre-fog-man?

 This line was effective for sure.  Great forecheck with our wingers crashing and a center that can finish on loose pucks.  Keep these guys together hynzy

#gotothenetcreatechaos

[Imyourhuckleberry]

20 hours ago, Citizen Strife said:

Excuse me for trusting a guy who can get a point every other game over two people basically hand picked by the team to grab the spot (to the point Hynes and Guerin both said as much) and they didn't do anything either.  Maybe they find it together on their own line instead.

For all we know, the issue could be Tarasenko.  If the lines continue struggling, he'll be the common factor.  Hynes is gonna try everything before admitting that's the reason.

The issue is that the line has nobody that is a setup guy. It has 2 guys who can score if fed opportunities in their preferred locations and nobody that feeds guys in their preferred locations.

Johansson can make drop passes after getting across the line, but if those passes aren't going to Boldy, Zuccarello, Kaprizov, Hartman, or Rossi, then it's difficult to get good looks setup for Tarasenko or Eriksson Ek.

The lineup was built for having Zuccarello, and they definitely miss his setup abilities in a major way. Yurov is likely going to be more capable than Johansson for creating scoring opportunities, but may need some time to develop.

The funny thing is, the coaches seem to trust the veteran(Johansson) for not making the types of mistakes that lead to loss of puck possession or goals against, but he absolutely makes those types of mistakes regularly. The goalies bail him out frequently, but not all the time.

The Wild will need to change up the top line if they want regular scoring from the 2nd line prior to Zuccarello returning. They have all of their best scoring opportunity creators on the same line.

[Mateo3xm]

23 hours ago, Citizen Strife said:

If Ohgren or Yurov were good enough to be in the Top 6, they would be there by now.  Or at least shown something offensively that would be worth it to pursue. Buium isn't having any trouble tilting the ice despite his own issues.

Yurov and Ohgren have to find out something that makes them unique.  That or Guerin will try to trade for someone who will 

This is a complete load of crap lol.

How old was Rossi and JEE when they started putting it together? Do you know? Rossi was 23 when he had 40pts, JEE was something like 25-26 when he put up more than 30pts in the nhl. Center is a very hard position to play in the NHL and it takes a long time to get up to speed. Buium is on a different level than Ohgren and Yurov. 

We basically got a top 5 type of pick at pick 12 or whenever we got him. One of the reasons players go in the early first round is because they are more nhl ready. When you get players in the late first, they are more of a long term project with a high upside. You don’t think Yurov breaking Tarasanko’s U20 Khl record is note worthy offensively? He was second line center for the team that won the Gangon Cup..Yurov is 21yrs old, so is Ohgren.

I don’t understand how people don’t understand that development is a long drawn out process that’s also very fragile. If you’re judging them on a couple pre season games, that’s an extremely flawed way of going about it. Look at their entire body of work and ask yourself are they following a production curve at each level? The answer to that is yes when it comes to Yurov, Ohgren and Buium.

[NoJoSux]

On 10/13/2025 at 4:51 PM, Pewterschmidt said:

Prediction: NoJo gets an assist that gets rinse-sanko his first goal.  
 

why?  So that keeps him in the top 6 so he can continue drive everyone nuts.  Because that’s who he is

NoJo with a classic assist last night. Fires one towards the net, but it's blocked. Goes to Spurge who scores with high hockey IQ and NoJo gets an automatic apple. 

[Imyourhuckleberry]

On 10/13/2025 at 4:39 PM, Citizen Strife said:

If Ohgren or Yurov were good enough to be in the Top 6, they would be there by now.  Or at least shown something offensively that would be worth it to pursue. Buium isn't having any trouble tilting the ice despite his own issues.

I hadn't even read that last line until it was highlighted by Mateo above.

Buium has ZERO even strength points. He's good on the power play and looks the part, but if you put Yurov or Ohgren on power play 1 with Kaprizov and Boldy, I'm guessing they would have points...like Tarasenko does.

While I see some positives with him, is Tarasenko tilting the ice for the Wild as well?

I understand why Buium is getting those opportunities, but I also recall folks here giving Calen Addison far too much credit for generating offense when he made simple passes on the power play and it had good results early in the year, while our even strength defense suffered, before he was traded. I have far more respect for Buium than to compare him to Addison, I'm only talking about some early results that are highly correlated with playing on man advantage lines with Boldy and Kaprizov.

They later put Faber there and he generated points. Kaprizov and Boldy are going to generate points on the power play even if you saddle them with Johansson's limited skillset, but they'll do far better with someone like Zuccarello.

Generating points on the power play with the 2 best players on the team doesn't quite tell me that you are tilting the ice. If Buium starts getting even strength results, you'll have a far more supported argument.

You also talked about Johansson getting nearly 1/2 a point per game in a recent post, but that's also driven by opportunities to play with more talented players and not driven by his own play. Last season, the Wild had 8 forwards with more points per 60 than Johansson, even strength. That list grew to 9 forwards when looking just at goals scored per 60, including Ohgren.

Do you think that Ohgren or Johansson had more opportunities with top 6 skill players on the Wild last season? Johansson is gifted more minutes because they have some comfort level with him, but he doesn't drive positive results. He sometimes collects positive results due to the opportunities he is granted to play with the high skill players.

I'm generally for having players earn it, but I don't think it does anyone any good to pretend that Johansson is incredibly better than Yurov simply because he was the 9th or 10th most productive forward on the Wild last year when given ideal situations to produce points compared to the guys who rated just behind him, such as Ohgren and Hinostroza. Clearly Hynes trusts him more, but his play on the ice doesn't always validate that level of trust.

If they play Johansson on the 4th line with Ohgren and Haight and he still generates .5 points per game in 10 minutes of ice time per night, or even 60% of that, your argument would be better supported.

I generally like your comments and positivity, and I somewhat understand Hynes' hesitation to play a bunch of inexperienced NHLers in the same lineup, but as the season progresses, he will likely get more comfortable with them and guys like Yurov and Ohgren seem destined to perform better than Johansson when given opportunities to play with the most talented skill players on the Wild--similar to how Buium looks on the power play compared to even strength results.

I'm still incredibly excited about Buium, but the possession metrics for even strength do not yet suggest he's tilting the ice in favor of the Wild.

Go Wild!!!

[Citizen Strife]

Yurov and Ohgren did look more comfortable together than at any point.  I want them to succeed.  The team will need every line to find chemistry to get the offense, because the PP is not sustainable.

Tarasenko could be the 2nd line's issue moreso than Mojo being there.

Edited October 15 by Citizen Strife

[Imyourhuckleberry]

4 hours ago, Citizen Strife said:

Yurov and Ohgren did look more comfortable together than at any point.  I want them to succeed.  The team will need every line to find chemistry to get the offense, because the PP is not sustainable.

Buium is looking better and better. Hopefully they will begin to score some at even strength. Hinostroza was rather close, hitting the pipe in the 3rd. Yurov seemed to be battling for pucks pretty well.

Might want to start mixing in Jiricek as well in the next few games.